How it all went down warning long description

Team: 2022-23 New York Rangers

Initial Creation Date: Jun. 11, 2022

Published: Jun. 12, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

This season was a rollercoaster, from Igor becoming God to Dryden "where offense goes to die" Hunt as our 2nd line RW to leading the league in comeback wins and wins when outshot and finally to one of our best forwards and ⅓ of our best line throughout the playoffs being scratched in the last game of the season for a corpse who couldn't even play 9 minutes when we couldn't generate any 5v5 offense for the last 4 games of the season

Lets start with the turning points of the offseason

Patrik Nemeth signing: he was nothing special all season, much more harmful than helpful and didn't help fix our Dcore's biggest problem (breakouts) he was also signed to be a mentor for Nils Lundkvist who was sent down after half a season anyway and from someone who watches every game he (Nils) did nothing to really justify being sent down, I guess they were just hoping for a different look in Schneider who turned out ok, absolute disaster of a signing and will probably be traded for cap space

Barclay Goodrow signing: really good signing, was everything that was advertised, great leadership presence, very useful on the PK and at the faceoff dot, the term and cap hit haven't really sunk in yet but it will soon and when that happens it might be hard to lose such a good player as overpaid as he is

Buchnevich trade: I'm sure it was well intentioned, but it blew up in Drurys face, maybe it was always Drury's plan to move him and the market just wasn't there, maybe Buch was scapegoated as part of the front office/ownerships toughness crusade or maybe Drury just expected that much from the kids this season and skipped a few steps. Whatever the reason for the trade was, it was an indefensible return for our 2nd best winger who had a breakout season both analytically and eye test wise, he became a mainstay in our top 10 PK unit and had a near PPG season while not even being a part of our 1st PP unit and even carried our 1st line at even strength for good parts of the season and was also one of our most physical players and best forcheckers, its not just that he became one of very few forwards the rangers have drafted and developed into bonafide top 6 players in decades, it sent the message that the rangers as a whole don't take forward development seriously (as evidenced by most of their recent top forward picks getting inconsistent opportunities and showing underwhelming results early

To the beginning of the season

Speaking of underwhelming forwards Vitali Kravtsov: the situation was mishandled by both sides but the rangers were really the guilty party, Kravtsov started presason on the 3rd line which went fine until he got injured, he came back in the final game of preseason and even scored a goal, overall had a solid preseason, next thing you know hes sent down (call it conditioning, call it he wasn't better than 23 guys, call it we didn't like him, call it he would've been called back up after a game or 2 anyway, doesn't matter) and was asked to take AHL checks (70K for a whole season as opposed to 832.5K in the NHL) while plugs and offensively inept players like Hajek, Tinordi and Hunt stayed and all 3 proved to not help the rangers this season in any way which again was an indefensible move by Drury to likely ruin and already strained relationship with Kravtsov going back to their time together in Hartford AFTER trading a top line right winger

The team was ROUGH to start, they were exactly what we thought we were to start, a PP and a goalie, the team struggled to find lines that worked and therefore create offense for long stretches of games, the main victims of that were the Kids, they didn't have consistent linemates or ice time for the first half of the season, and 2 of the 3 had some issues that forced some stagnation/regression

2nd half of the season

MUCH different team, Igor cooled off from Legendary to just great and it didn't matter because Drury had a home run of a deadline, we filled huge gaps in our depth chart and started to figure out how to generate some offense consistently and even competed for the division title until the last few games of the regular season, also got close to the franchise record for standings points, something very few saw coming after the start of the season

The playoffs were an absolute success, rangers faced adversity, beat it, faced it again, beat it again and then won/made close all but 1 game from the 2 time cup champions, we turned what very well could have been 1 playoff win into 10 and the kids gained tons of playoff experience while raising their level of play, couldn't ask for more out of them

Season reviews

Incredible season

Shesterkin: vezina lock, hart candidate, short sample size but hes 26 and already looks like one of the best goalies to ever play the game and is an absolute psychopath, he'll give us a chance every season hes healthy

Fox: looked like he was playing at a different speed than everyone else on the ice at all times this season, processes the game an an incredible level and even after a drop off from last season was one of the best players in the world

Kreider: 52 goals, 2nd most ever in a season by a ranger, lived in front of the net and also became a legit 2way player and started killing penalties, also became a serious candidate for Captain, came up clutch for us all season from game 1 at WSH to game 102 at TBL

Really good season

Panarin: looked off to start the season like the entire team and never had a consistent RW to play with, but once he did he was back to Hart candidate Panarin, looked like he was playing through something in the playoffs, which obviously affected his play, but we wouldn't be here without him

Zibanejad: looked lost to start the season but got much better as it went on, had a career year offensively and even accepted the challenge of becoming better defensively and at faceoffs, was a top 3 player for us in the playoffs and solidified himself as our 2nd real candidate for captain

Lafreniere: did really well while being dealt a bad hand, he went from playing 10 minutes a game to playing on the top line on his off wing every few games and with no real PP time scored 19 goals all at ES which was 3rd most on the team, got even better in the playoffs and showed flashes of an all around superstar, expecting a breakout

Miller: he took a huge leap, much more confident skating and with the puck on his stick and should have been QBing the 2nd PP unit as soon as Nils was sent down, hes much less mistake prone than he was a rookie and recovers a lot more than he used to, became our 2nd best Dman and a legit top shutdown Dman, could be a guy we say could have won a Norris years from now if he was on a team where he was the #1 Dman, loved the season he had

Good season

Trouba: bounced back defensively and his physicality rubbed off on the whole team, overpaid and mistake prone but does what we ask of him and eats minutes pretty well

Lindgren: looked even more solid defensively this season, a bit more involved and engaged offensively than usual, but a warrior as usual

Goodrow: gave us everything we needed and wanted, even had a career season offensively even if its just cosmetic, it was mostly because he was miscast at times as a top 6 C/RW, once he was put back in a normal bottom 6 role he was great, and he should be again next season

You are what we thought you are

Strome: overachieved as a ranger and yet wasn't a difference maker when we needed it, he was hurt at the end, but he was just as invisible when healthy, didn't rely on Panarin as much as people say, but he obviously helped, he wasn't used on the 1st unit PP at all other than to be a spare center even though he didn't win face offs and could be replaceable on the ice, probably won't be back and shouldn't

Georgiev: looked awful to start the season, was a lock a lose as often as Shesty was a lock to win, he looked out of rhythm but as Igor cooled off and got some rest down the stretch Georgie went on a bit of a roll and gained some value, I liked his tenure but I expect us to move on from him for cap space

Kakko: the numbers aren't there yet but he looked elite defensively, drove play whenever he got the opportunity and looked even more confident in the playoffs with the puck on his stick, and absolute travesty and malpractice that his season ended how it did and I hope he wants to come back and comes back even better

Chytil: was injured and his shooting luck was worse than ever before, but like Lafreniere and Kakko he stepped up in the playoffs, and they showed their value to this team for certain

Gallant: he did a lot of what the rest of the league saw of him, he was loyal to his guys and played his money (Strome, Goodrow, Reaves and Trouba), gave the kids inconsistent opportunities and didn't really help us improve structurally, at his lowest he played Lafreniere 7 minutes in a game and chewed out a reporter for asking about it and then scratched Kakko in the last game of the season, at his highs we made the ECF, lost all my faith in him after yesterday after he panicked and choked, but 2 games from the finals in year 1 makes his job 99% safe next season

The rest

Rooney: solid 13th forward, PK and faceoffs, not much else, would like him back on a minimum

Blais: TBD, no idea if the rangers give it another shot, but after seeing Hajek still here, I doubt the rangers want to cut their losses and come to terms with another L

Hunt: low event plug, should have never been anywhere but the 4th line but Drury had a rough offseason

Reaves: great for the locker room, hits everything that moves but takes bad penalties and like Hunt is useless with the puck and can't skate so hes constantly getting trapped in the Dzone, I would trade him for cap space because you can't win with him being a regular but its not happening

Gauthier: great skater, always gets the puck our of the Dzone but has no finish, perfect 4th liner

Lundkvist/Schneider: both were pretty good, neither were great as far as rookies go, but you didn't hear much about them which is all you ask of a 3rd pair Dman

The deadline acquisitions

Copp: great pickup, has tons of utility in all situations and plays well with Panarin because hes actually shoots, would love him back for the right price

Motte: elite penalty killer, one of the best stick users I've ever seen defensively, doesn't do much but plays hard every shift, would love him back

Vatrano: great shot and pretty fast when he gets a head start but doesn't create much no reason for him to be higher in the lineup/on the PP than Lafreniere, Chytil or Kakko, he also doesn't play C like Copp so he probably won't be back

Braun: he was great for Schneider, had his moments but overall was calm and shutting teams down, would love him back as a depth Dman

Offseason to do list:

Keep Copp and Motte

Figure out Panarin's C/RW (Copp would play the other)

Trade Nemeth and give Jones a shot

Find a reliable backup for Shesty

Figure out what do with with Trouba, Schneider and Nils: its not fair to ask Nils to have to wait 3 years after he comes over to get a real shot if Trouba won't waive his NMC, he deserves to play here or elsewhere would like see to him and Jones rotating between 6 and 7 if possible

Come to a decision on Kravtsov: we need the offense he provides, if the front office is done with him just get offense back in return

Overall we overachived this season, got much farther than we deserved to according to our play this season we have some questions to answer and some moves to make but the team is still very young, we have Igor, we have Fox, we have 3 elite forwards AND the kids are getting better, we have more kids looking to come up soon (Jones, Othmann, Cuylle and Berard)
Now its time to look forward to the offseason